Her Gryffindor Sunrise
by walk.in.the.rain
Summary: One of my favorite types of story is one that’s not often written. Where we throw the conventional story line of HP out the window and try to picture what Rowling’s world would look like if the Dark conquered the Light. Eventually HG/SS. Rated MA!
1. Chapter 1

Her Gryffindor Sunrise

A/N: I've read fanfiction for over 5 years now and this is my first attempt at writing it. One of my favorite types of story is one that's not often written. Where we throw the conventional story line of HP out the window and try to picture what Rowling's world would look like if the Dark conquered the Light. Story will eventually be HG/SS. Rated R for later chapters. Please read, enjoy and review!

Hermione sat uncomfortably on the unpadded seats of the carriage. If it could even be considered that. The transportation's floors were a depressing gray, the interior paint peeling and the upholstery was torn asunder. It was certainly not what she'd thought of a carriage as when she'd dreamed of prince charming and happily ever after as a child.

But life in the wizarding world had affected her perspective on many a thing. Least of all these things could be carriages.

She tried not to look at her companions much. All young women dressed in the same shabby dress that one was accustomed to seeing on a house elf. Some cried, some slept, some whispered amongst themselves. No, instead Hermione preferred to stare out the window into what she was sure might be her last sunset. And a gloriously beautiful sunset it was. She gave a small smile as she saw the red and golden hues dominate the sky. They could hate her and her House and all that she stood for but she wouldn't succumb to madness as long as she lived on. She grimaced, 'For however long that might last'.

There would be no execution at sunrise but she might have preferred it that way.

She took a moment to wallow in the self pity that kept threatening to drown her. 'How could this have happened?' she thought miserably, 'We were supposed to win! There was no Plan B or contingency. There was no "if" Harry…' her thoughts trailed off, still unable to grasp the concept.

But that was part of the problem. She had never allowed herself to consider the possibility that the Light wouldn't win; that Dark would prevail. Hermione was a woman of logic. Or so she thought. She now saw that even her method of logic had been naïve. Why hadn't she created a contingency plan? Why hadn't Dumbledore?

She knew the answer. Because living in a world where the Dark had won meant that Harry Potter was dead. And Hermione, like her peers and presumably, The Order members, could never imagine that world.

And now she was living it.

* * *

Steeling herself, she watched out the window as the wrought iron gates opened up to let the carriage through. She shivered as she watched the thesterals pull them up the long dirt road that looked as though it had been left to disarray many years ago. She watched some of the other girls gasp as they saw the thesterals for the first time.

After the final battle, they could all see them.

Hermione closed her eyes and she couldn't help but see the carnage as she'd seen it two months ago.

_She ran, wand in hand and stared in disbelief at the site she saw as she stepped out of the Gryffindor Portrait hole, deafened by the amount of noise. She'd taken the wrong time to put up anti disturbance and anti noise charms as she studied for her NEWTs. She saw school children of every Hogwart's House running and crying. It took her a moment to realize that many of them had injuries. And then sound returned to her and she couldn't get it to stop. She turned to the nearest shrieking and found a group of her fellow Gryffindors huddling over… _

'_Oh sweet jesus, no.' she thought, though she knew it to be true before she moved others so she could see what had happened. 'Hannah Abbott. She was always so friendly,' and then she stumbled past the body and down the stairs towards the noise and the Great Hall dizzily. _

'_It's happening. This is it. Where are Harry and Ron? And why didn't they find me first? Where ARE they? I don't know if I can do this! I'm not prepared! We still have so much training left to do!'_

_And suddenly, she stopped. 'What the hell is wrong with me?', she mentally berated herself. She took a deep breath and continued down the stairs, wand at the ready and a determined fire in her eyes._

_As she neared the first floor of the castle, she began casting shield charms and mild hexes and curses to those who would do her harm. Many of the curses directed at her came from the children of suspected Death Eaters. She spotted a red head and a shorter male with dark hair in the middle of the Great Hall. She doubled her speed and made progress towards them. _

_Hermione was struck by the sheer destruction that had been laid to her castle, her home. Hogwarts could never again seem safe as she gazed up and saw the enchanted ceiling that usually reflected the night sky blown apart. The sky was bright with the reflection of various colored spells from underneath it. She could not see the stars but for the colors._

_She continued to make her way towards the center of it all and sent a bat boogey hex towards a masked man who blocked it. As he turned around and sneered at her, "This is no game little girl. I'd stop playing with fire before you get burned," she realized that it was Avery. She'd fought him once before in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. He seemed to realize the previous fight at the same moment he did and growled, "Crucio!" Hermione managed to dodge the curse the first time but not the second. And then she felt nothing but pain for what seemed like an eternity. The pores of her skin burned and she could feel blood underneath her fingernails. At last, when she would have begun to weep for death before the insanity took her, he relented and with a knowing eye, began to cast, "Avada Keda--!" but before he could finish he was hit with a jet of green light thrown from Kingsley Shacklebolt. He didn't do more than nod at her as he ran on to combat more of the silver masked men and women. _

_She stared down at the lifeless and cruel body of Avery, 'That could have been me. That was __**going**__ to be me.' _

_And then she realized that it was true. Avery was right. This wasn't a game._

_She charged further into the battle and saw that she was nearing the real battle. For the first time, she could clearly see that many of the people from both sides were simply watching the three battles in front of them. Harry was locked into a terrifyingly deadly duel with Voldermort. Ron was attempting to keep his own fighting Lucius Malfoy near them. And last but certainly not least, Dumbledore was fending off Bellatrix Lestrange. The horror of what was happening began to slowly sink in for Hermione. In an attempt to catch her offguard, a Death Eater sent a curse whizzing by her ear. Full of a hatred and loathing that she'd never possessed before, Hermione began to engage in magical blows with the Death Eaters who was still both cloaked and masked. And then there were four battles raging across the Great Hall._

_After receiving a series of painful curses, Hermione finally got the upper hand and had the Death Eater wandless, on his back. She was frantic to get to the others and lend her assistance. The man reached up and took off his mask. Percy Weasley. He pleaded with her, "Hermione, don't do this. We've known each other for years. We're practically family." She tilted her head and asked him, "Have you fought against any of your family members tonight? Have you __**killed**__ any of them yet?" Percy's face got paler as he attempted to deny it, "No! You don't understand! I'm a spy for The Order!"_

_After another moment of pleading, during which Hermione thought that perhaps, perhaps he was telling the truth, Percy seemed to think that he was arguing a losing battle. He sneered, "You're nothing but filthy mudblood scum anyway! Your curses could never truly harm me! You and my family! Blood traitors! Bowing down to inferiority!" She didn't blink but calmly cast the Killing Curse and watched the life fade out of Percy's eyes. 'No, not Percy', she thought. Just another Death Eater. An enemy._

_She was started out of her thoughts as she heard Bellatrix howl a last pitiful scream before her body fell and her soul wandered into the unknown. Dumbledore had defeated her. 'How long have we been fighting?', she thought as she ran towards Dumbledore. _

_Two things happened simultaneously that she never could have predicted. Not if she'd studied under Trewlawny and studied Divination for a hundred years. _

_It was as if she was in a strange dream that Hermione watched as Lucius Malfoy disarmed Ronald Billius Weasley, the love of her young life and struck him down with a jet of green light.  
Harry Potter watched as his best friend's body fell lifeless upon the ground, like a marionette who's strings had been cut.  
Voldermort saw his opportunity to strike the boy down but had another plan in mind. He raised his wand __towards Harry and as Dumbledore moved forward to protect him, he changed his target and caught the older man surprised. And so Albus Dumbledore fell as well._

_Hermione was incapable of registering all that had happened in a matter of seconds. It couldn't possibly be real._

_Harry's rage began to control his wandwork. He began to cast curses and hexes he'd barely begun to understand, having read them in Dark Arts books to prepare himself for this battle. Voldermort began to move onto the defensive, all the while keeping himself protected from young Potter. The walls of the great Hogwart's castle began to shake with the force of their spells. What was left of the enchanted ceiling began to crash around them. In an almost cartoonish moment, Voldermort stumbled over one of the pieces of rubble behind him and his shield faltered for a moment. Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world, had just cast an obscure spell 'Vindellixi' towards the Dark Lord. And it struck. The entire room seemed to take a collective breath.  
_

_As Voldermort fell, his last curse left his lips. And the boy who lived knew no more of this world.  
_

_The room was at a standstill. Could they even ask which side had won? As each side rushed to check on their respective leaders, Lucius Malfoy shouted with triumph, "He's alive! The Dark Lord lives on! Round up the mudbloods and traitors alike!" He paused to survey the room and spoke, "Your hero is dead. You will either join him in death or… join your new place in this world under Lord Voldermort's rule."_

And so she had. Joined her place in the new world, that is. Initially, not for fear of death but out of shock—she hadn't known what to do. When she had been held captive and tortured daily for two months, she had finally understood that she would have no rescue, that the world had become a desolate, friendless place for mudbloods like Hermione Granger.

And so she had understood her own weakness. She should have died with the others. So many others. _Harry, Ron, Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, Pavarti Patil, Hannah Abbott, Jason Samuels, Ponoma Sprout, Eloise Midge, Cormac McLaggen… _And those were just the ones she'd seen. She hadn't talked much to the other prisoners about the death's they'd seen yet. Prisoners, for that's what they were. Slaves. That was their position in this new world. Or so they thought.

* * *

The carriage came to a stop. An ugly man unlocked and opened the carriage door. Hermione's hand itched for the wand that would never again occupy her hand. Behind the man stood a strikingly beautiful woman who looked at the girls and sneered at them, "Merlin, not much more attractive than the last group. Alright, get out and line up single file. I'll personally crucio anyone who," she smiled winningly, "decides they don't understand obedience."

Hermione tried not to let the confusion show on her face. Attractiveness? What would that have to do with slavery? 'Oh but of course, the purebloods want the prettiest slaves to be running their households,' she thought and attempted not to snort. The girls were herded like cattle towards a coldly beautiful mansion. With a start, Hermione read the sign that was hanging above the doorway. 'No, not this. They can't really expect…' she began to tremble. But of course they'd expect it. She was vermin.

And now, a whore.

The ugly man cackled and pointed to the sign that read, 'The Petite Bourgeoisie Brothel'. "You'll be enjoying your life here. You'll have all the _pleasures_ you, I mean, we, could ever dream of!" As he laughed manically, many of the girls began to sob as they understood their fate.

'We're like cows for the slaughter', Hermione thought grimly. They were shepherded inside and as they stepped into the foyer, a man approached each girl and whispered, 'Imperio.' Each young woman was immobilized and lost the look of intelligence across their faces. At this point, panic was beyond Hermione. Her last thought that was her own was not a plea or resigned acceptance of her position.

The last thought that crossed her mind was an absurd one at the moment but would become important as time went on.

'What in the blazes ever happened to Snape?'


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and story alert ads! Definitely a boost in confidence for this author. I plan on writing this story to completion (don't we all?). So far I have a vague outline for 10 chapters or so. We'll see how it goes. The plan is to update as often as I can. We're packing and moving into a house within the next month so times are a wee bit busy.

Please do feel free to leave reviews with criticisms and suggestions as well. And as always… read, enjoy and review!

His first conscious memory in weeks was of swimmingly bright lights and an excited voice that belonged to a man he once considered among his friends. Lucius Malfoy was fidgeting as Severus Snape attempted to open his eyes. For Lucius, fidgeting was akin to practically dancing.

"He's waking up! He is!" Lucius gleefully accounted to the doctors. Healer Trump gasped as he saw Snape's bleary eyes and exclaimed, "He's still in too much pain! And healing! We have to sedate him immediately!" The team of doctors bustled around his bedside to put him back into the oblivion.

Lucius' long blond hair cast shadows upon his face, making him look more sinister than usual and stood over Severus and told him in his usual cultured, aristocratic voice, "Dear friend, it looks like you'll be out a while longer. Ah, but I have good news. Our side has won! We defeated Potter! And took down that meddling old fool Dumbledore at the same time! Victory is ours!" His maniacal grin settled into the cultured half smile Severus had come to expect from Lucius, "We will celebrate properly when you're awake again. After all, the spoils have gone to the victors…"

And with that, Severus slipped back into the sweet grace that is oblivion.

Break

Hermione was told to walk to her new room by the beautiful woman she had met at the carriage. And so she did. She learned that this woman was Madame Jacqueline Limantour. She and her husband, whom Hermione had not yet met, owned the brothel. Madame Limantour took great pride in two things; her French heritage and running The Petite Bourgeoisie Brothel.

Hermione was informed that as soon as she was locked into the room from the outside, the wards would allow for the Imperious curse to be released. The Imperious would be replaced every time she stepped out of the room by the wards. The Imperioused Hermione nodded her head and stepped into the room that was to become her home. The door was locked and Hermione became aware of herself again. She was sickened to discover that she had understood and watched everything that had happened to her while she was under the Imperious. It was not the 'blackout' affect that some described from experiencing it but a sense of helplessness to be trapped in her own consciousness.

Disgusted with her own conformity, however out of her control, she ran to the attached bathroom and proceeded to dry heave everything she had not eaten. After the moment had passed, she cursed the porcelain gods and lay on the cold floor in order to soothe herself. She inspected the dark gray tile and white grout that ran through it for it was the only thing in her vision at that moment. And she suspected that it would be one of the few things in her new life that she could focus on without cringing. She wondered at the last time she had eaten. Had it been yesterday? Perhaps the day before?

Suddenly she was aware of more than the tile and the grout. She was aware of two feet that stood in the doorway and the person attached to them.

Alicia Spinnet, former Gryffindor chaser stood above her. Hermione vaguely remembered that she had graduated 2, or was it 3 years ahead of them. 2, she decided, she was 2 years ahead. And slowly, Hermione raised herself off the cold, comforting floor and stood to greet Alicia, who she presumed was her roommate.

Alicia gave her a grim smile, "Hermione, I'd hoped that the rumors weren't true." Hermione shook her head and gave a rueful quirk of the lips, "So had I." The girls proceeded to tell each other their stories. It had been many long months since Hermione had let herself connect with another person. She had feared what the companionship might cost her. 'But here', she thought, 'it can't cost me much. It's not like it could get much worse!' It turned out that Alicia had heard of the battle raging at Hogwarts and, as an Auror in training, she rushed to the castle in order to help and disobeyed her superiors' instructions.

"I spent a long time wishing I'd obeyed their instructions to stay put at the Auror Academy. Wishing I hadn't let myself be captured, tortured and taken to this," she gestured around her, "place of desecration. But I'd only be running for my life. I grew up in the muggle world, like you. They'd never have accepted me or let me be." Hermione silently agreed with her and pondered out loud, "I wonder if anyone from the Order survived. I wonder if they're still trying to fight back." Alicia looked at her with a small amount of hope in her eyes, "I'd heard that the Order existed. Its true then?" At Hermione's nod she continued, "That's wonderful news! I'm sure some of them escaped! Although…" she trailed off in thought. Hermione completed the thought for her, "I know, I know. What's an organization about defeating Voldemort without Dumbledore and Harry Potter? It's the only hope we've got though. Not much to count on but still, it _is_ something," she told herself, giving herself hope as much as she gave to Alicia.

After another hour of talking and taking immense pleasure in each other's company, something neither of them thought they'd experience again, the women turned to separate tasks. Hermione decided to clean the grime and filth that had accumulated upon her body in the past weeks by taking a shower. She climbed into the upright shower and was surprised to find it clean, although dreadfully dreary. At first, she couldn't find the right temperature. Too hot, too cold. 'Ah, that's right', she thought as she remembered something she'd read in a medical textbook, 'after effects of the Cruciatus curse leave the victim with extreme sensitivity to temperature changes.' Eventually she was able to find comfort in the steaming shower and understand it for the luxury that it was.

She thought of the countless showers she'd taken in her lifetime. She'd taken so very many things like this for granted. Hot showers, house elf cooked meals, conversations by the fire with her friends… Tears sprung to her eyes as she thought of Ron and Harry and the fact that they'd never see each other again. But she refused to cry, having spent weeks crying at the thought of either of them already. No, it was time to put her grief for others aside and try to survive in her new world. The tears she shed for her best friend and her young love would not help them anymore.

She eventually emerged from the shower, feeling somewhat better than when she'd entered. She went to the bedroom and found a clean set of grey robes upon her cot. Angela was already wearing her set. The robes were ankle length and without decoration save an insignia upon the left breast pocket. Eyeing it with closer detail, she realized it was a house crest, like the house elves of the old pureblood families wore. Alicia interrupted her thoughts, "It seems that we _belong_ to Monsieur and Madame Limantour now." She scowled with disgust but tossed her robes on as well. 'At least they're clean', she thought. When I was imprisoned after the Hogwarts battle, I wore the same filthy school robes for months. Until they _oh so graciously_ gave us the house elf clothing. Bah.'

Alicia continued, "Someone stopped by while you were in the shower. We'll be summoned for dinner soon…" she trailed off and both girls wondered at what else they'd be summoned for as the night went on.

Break

He first became aware of the amount of moisture in the room, being that there was practically none. 'St. Mungos', he grimaced, 'Always has the driest air. Constantly re-circulating through the rooms. Would it kill them to open a window instead of keeping this place less pleasant than Azkaban? At least there they have lots of fresh, salty air.' He almost smiled to himself. He could hear nothing but the sound of his own breathing and heart beat, 'Ah well, at least they got that right. No noisy children or shrieking patients.' He pondered that for a moment, 'Since when has St. Mungos ever been quiet? And why exactly am I here again?'

Severus Snape's eyes shot open in surprise when he remembered… well, what did he remember? He remembered traveling through the catacombs of underground London, in search of the prophesy that both Lord Voldemort and Dumbledore had sent him to find. He remembered an ambush of Aurors that attacked him and his team of Death Eaters. He remembered watching Mulciber's head fly through the air, no longer attached to his body. And then he remembered nothing but the dark. He'd been in the dark for quite a while, it seemed to him.

Though his face betrayed nothing, his mind ran through the events of his last awakening, the only time he'd surfaced from the dark. Lucius and his proclamation that the Dark had taken the Light. The world had fallen into the perfect chaos that the Dark Lord had promised them. Or so he assumed. 'Where are those blasted healers?' Severus thought to himself. Much to his own displeasure, he realized he might have to call out for someone to relay his condition to him. Just before he started to voice his request, a healer appeared, not wearing the usual color of St. Mungo's robes but rather a deep shade of red without emblem or sign of designation.

"Ah, Mister Snape! Glad to see you've come around. We've been expecting it for some time. I'm Healer Commonwealth," said the supposed healer. He had an odd look to him, as though his facial features were all a centimeter too far to the left. Snape considered him and asked in a raspy, unused voice, "How long have I been unconscious? I recall someone coming in to see me and…", Snape realized that he needed to know the answer to the question he was afraid to ask, "I heard something about a great battle. Can you tell me what's become of the wizarding world?"

Commonwealth gave him a shrewd smile and replied, "We've won of course! Well, the correct side has won anyway. Lord Voldemort destroyed both Dumbledore and Potter in the Final Battle of Hogwarts, as they're calling it." Snape's expression betrayed nothing of the turmoil and confusion that was rolling beneath his skin. The healer straightened his robes with a look of superiority upon his face, "They've cleared out all of the major wizarding world companies of those lower than us purebloods. I was quite pleased with the command's decision to have you as my patient. We only treat those who are worthy to be saved now. As it should be!" Commonwealth declared and turned a crooked smile toward his patient.

"And my condition…?" Snape asked dryly. The healer flushed, embarrassed apparently at his lack of professionalism and stammered, "I, uh, er, yes, well… You're in good shape now. You've been here at St. Mungo's for about 3 weeks-" at which Snape's eyes went wide, "You were struck with a curse that gave you continually rupturing aneurysms. Its why you've been out for so long." Commonwealth licked his lips and continued with a dark, far off look in his eyes, "They had to persuade Auror Pinkins to tell us what exactly you'd been struck with. Bastard wouldn't give it up for some time. We had a hell of a time keeping you alive until they threatened to kill his daughter, filthy muggle that she was, to get the spell's name from him." He cleared his throat and shook his head, bringing himself back to the present.

The healer gave Severus an attempted smile and spoke, "We've been able to devote as much attention to you as needed. We have a much lower employment rate than we did before, as no one is allowed to work for Mungo's unless they've sworn fealty to Lord Voldemort. But with the lower patient count, it's all evened out…"

Severus half-tuned out the healer as he went on to explain the greatness of Voldemort's overhaul plan for the wizarding world. Severus knew the plan forwards and backwards from living years and years under Voldemort's boney thumb. Commonwealth hesitated in his long winded speech and the worlds that came out of his mouth were most surprising to Severus Snape, "It's a pity that he isn't around to see it right now. Not that he's dead of course." At Snape's questioning eyebrow, Commonwealth exclaimed, "Merlin's beard! I didn't tell you about that, now did I? That damn Potter struck Voldemort with some obscure spell right before Voldemort killed him. He's still in a coma." He wrung his hands in despair, "We've looked everywhere for the spell, to figure out what The Brat Who Lived did to him but we haven't found anything just yet." He put on a smile and faced his patient, "But his legacy lives on! And we will have the wizarding world the way he wants it when he's ready to enter it again."

Break

Eventually the bumbling healer disappeared and Severus was able to don his long black robes and get ready to leave St. Mungo's. Still without the strength to apparate, he waited for the secretary to clear his floo access. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. His treachery had not been revealed to either side. And now he had a decision to make. Could he attempt to find what remained of the Order of the Phoenix and continue to uphold the bargain he made to Dumbledore over 20 years ago? Or would he follow his Slytherin heart and make the best of the situation he was in? After all, he could live a life of luxury as one of Voldemort's Inner Circle. 'Yes,' he thought, 'I could finally live in peace and do the potion's research that I've been fascinated with yet unable to do for two decades now.'

Snape's brow continued to furrow as he thought of morals, consequences and his own fate as he grabbed a handful of floo powder, tossed it into the fireplace and said, "Hogwarts."


End file.
